Baked Plum Cake
by Calico Yorki
Summary: This is just a soft, fluffy little thing I typed up in half-an-hour. Hopefully it's not too inaccurate, but if it is, I hope you can enjoy it anyway!
It was an unusually lazy, quiet day on Dressrosa. The sun was high in the sky, beating down on the brows of the people below. There were no crimes of passion to speak of, and besides the clashing of swords at the Arena, the streets were unnaturally quiet. Everyone was either indoors or huddling under any shade they could get, trying to avoid the oppressive sun.

Well, everyone was evading the sun save for one man. Doflamingo was lounging around on the couch beside the pool, his feathered coat discarded beside him. Smiling contentedly, sweat trickling down his brow, he simply soaked in the oppressive rays and enjoyed a brief moment of respite. As much as he enjoyed the company of his Executives, there were times when a man needed to be on his own.

All of a sudden, the quiet sound of footsteps made him perk up a bit. Who could be bothering him at a time like this? Doflamingo rose up and turned his head to look over the back of his couch, and chuckled at what he saw. Sugar was standing there, holding an arm over her stomach. "I'm hungry," she told him bluntly. "Do we have anything to eat? I ran out of grapes and it's too hot to go get some more." Sugar sure did like to get into the whole little girl act, despite it just being her Devil Fruit making her look so young.

On a whim, Doflamingo decided to indulge her just this once. "Well, let's go see what we can find for you," he chuckled, hopping up on his feet and grabbing his coat off of the couch. The inside of the palace would be much cooler, and he had to look fashionable when he was in his domain. Sliding his arms into the coat and straightening it out, he asked Sugar, "Why didn't you go to one of the others? They'd help you find something to eat if you asked." They probably wouldn't do it out of the good of their hearts, but they'd do it all the same, with or without some nagging on Sugar's part.

"Trebol is taking one of his old man naps and I can't make him wake up," Sugar explained. "Diamante is off to the Coliseum. Pica is off doing who-knows-what, and I can't find anybody else! It's like they didn't get the memo that today's too hot to do anything!" Doflamingo's smile got just a little bit wider at that. When it came to his crew, he knew that they couldn't let a little thing like the hot, oppressive sun slow them down when they wanted to do something. As for Trebol, Doflamingo would have to talk to him about leaving Sugar unsupervised to take a nap, but it would be fine to babysit her this time.

By the time they made it to the kitchen, Doflamingo and Sugar had been hand-in-hand for a few minutes. Since nobody was around, it couldn't hurt to offer a small gesture like holding her hand, right? As they stepped into the spacious, well-equipped kitchen, Doflamingo twirled Sugar around and around by his side as he looked around. He was quite certain that there were supposed to be some servants manning the kitchen this time of day, and it occurred to him that he hadn't seen many of them on his way over, either. Were they taking a break somewhere? That simply wouldn't do.

Deciding he'd have a few servants killed once they turned up again, Doflamingo hoisted Sugar up and sat her down on the stool. "I'm about to do something very un-kingly," he told her with a chuckle. "You'd better not tell anyone about this, understand? Or else I might have to string you up and kill you!" Wiggling his fingers at her menacingly, Doflamingo smirked at the laugh Sugar gave. They both knew Doflamingo would never dare do such a thing, and that Sugar would never dare to betray one of Doflamingo's secrets. It was good for a king and his underlings to have an understanding of each other.

As Sugar looked on in wonder, Doflamingo set about fetching some ingredients from around the kitchen. He procured eggs, flour, sugar, baking soda, and other things necessary for preparing a cake. He also found a container of plums in the fridge, and decided to pluck a few of them for his purposes. He discarded his coat again, this time so that he could roll up his sleeves and get to work mixing the cake batter. When the plums were sliced and added to the mix, he had Sugar retrieve a cake pan for him from the cupboard. Pouring the batter into the cake pan, he proceeded to slide it into the oven and turn it on.

While the cake baked in the oven, Doflamingo washed his hands, then went back to sit down with Sugar. She was fiddling with the measuring spoons, obviously trying to muster up her resolve to ask a question. At last she blurted out, "How did you learn to bake a cake? I had no idea you knew how to do that!" Blushing slightly, she stared up at Doflamingo expectantly.

"It was a very, very long time ago," Doflamingo told her. "I was just a little squirt, back then. I was still a Celestial Dragon, then." Sugar oohed in wonder. "My mother had one of her servants teach us both how to bake in secret. Not even my father knew, damn his soul tenfold. My brother might have known, but he's dead, too." Doflamingo chuckled whimsically.

After the cake had finished baking, Doflamingo brought it out of the oven and let it cool. He fetched knives and forks for Sugar, that way they could both dig in.

Not wanting to offend Doflamingo, Sugar never once mentioned that she normally hated plums.

To be honest, it being a cake he'd fixed was enough to enjoy it.


End file.
